What Is a Warehouse Management System?
A warehouse management system has become a very key part of the Supply chain for many businesses that sell or store physical products. Having a computerised system enables very sophisticated tracking and management of the products as they come into and leave the warehouse.Having a system allows a much more efficient process from the ordering of goods to logistics management and beyond. We are helped with the technology available today and there are a number of warehouse management systems that integrate with Automatic Data Capture Devices that can apply unique ids to products and materials and then read them at lighting quick rates.Some of the Auto ID Data Capture (AIDC) devices include:
Barcode Scanners This is the same system as you would find in the supermarket, allowing individual products to have information stored about them and then be tracked
Mobile Computers Powerful handheld devices that process the information on the go allowing warehouse managers to track products and materials from anywhere in or outside the warehouse
Wireless LANs This stands for Local Area Network and can be a powerful way of linking all the information together so that the mobile devices communicate with the database, again allowing management to be carried out on the move
Radio-Frequency Identification (Rfid) This is the ultimate in tracking stored or shipped items. This allows automatic tracking of products and materials around the warehouse as the are received or shipped. It’s a very efficient Warehouse Management System
These allow seamless communication between what is in the warehouse and the database allowing very detailed reports about the movement of the products, what is in storage, and ultimately enable managers to make sure goods are reaching the customers in a timely fashion.Some of the key features of a warehouse management system are Handling receipt of goods and stock, facilities management, racking/storage requirements, logistics management, pick and pack and shipping. An efficient WMS allows this to be a smooth process where everybody in the supply chain knows what is going on.The WMS can integrate into an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system or can be installed by itself. These can be very sophisticated depending on your needs and the requirements of the business. It is worth researching early on to see if there is a solution that can integrate with your existing software solutions or whether you need to upgrade so the systems work efficiently together.So you can see that employing a comprehensive Warehouse Management System can allow you to work more efficiently and always keep the business moving so that products are being ordered, stored and shipped out to allow the business to maintain profits and a good reputation.
Warehouse Management Systems
Warehouse Management Systems or WMS are put in place to help control the storage and movement of the materials within the warehouse. They are a vital part of the supply chain and control processes within the warehouse such as shipping and picking & packing. Also based on real time the systems help to direct and optimize stock.The main purpose of a warehouse management system is primarily to control movement and storage of materials in a warehouse.WMS provides computerized procedures which deal with the receipt of stock & returns into the warehouse facility. It also enables a link to the ordering processes and logistics enabling ordering, picking, packing and shipping the product out of the warehouse.Some WMS are stand-alone systems, whilst others are modules of an ERP (Enterprising Resource Planning) system or supply chain execution suite.Many systems will often use data capture technology such as ;o Mobile scanners
o Radio frequency identification ( RFID )
o Wireless LANS
o Barcode scannersThe use of this technology helps to efficiently monitor the flow of products.When the data has been collected it is transmitted to a central database, and this database will then provide important and useful reports on the status of the goods within the warehouse.It deals with the movement, storage, and receipt of warehouse goods to temporary or intermediate storage locations or to the final customer.Good efficient warehouse management can make a lot of difference to a retail chain distribution company. It should start with initial planning of container design for a specific product. Both warehouse and process design within the warehouse is also an important part of good warehouse management.The primary objective of warehouse management is to optimize order fulfilment and cost of time by managing the available resources economically.
Warehouse Management Systems: Making Warehouses Small Enough for Management
Big, spacious, and vital these three words are some in a laundry list of adjectives that properly describes a warehouse. Every product that comes from an adjacent town, a neighboring state, or from across the ocean first lands on this gargantuan storage facility. From there, warehouse staff coordinates the flow of goods to be distributed to retail stores and other establishments.Modern warehouses rarely use pen and paper to accomplish inventory tasks. Instead, they have sophisticated management system software that lets them cover more ground while allowing for close monitoring of the flow of goods. Considering their size, if it takes wheels to carry goods in and out of the warehouse, it also takes wheels to go around. Walking from one end of the warehouse to the other end wastes precious time and energy for the workers.An integrated system of computers and scanning machines keep track of what is in storage, what is being moved, what has to move and what needs to arrive. The system does the work of roughly the entire warehouse staff taking inventory of endless rows of goods, finishing the job in less time. Warehouse management systems account for a significant portion of potential profit for the retail establishments as well as the warehouse itself. To put it figuratively, it makes the warehouse small.Moving goods in large quantities may prove to be a challenge without warehouse management systems helping workers. Even if such systems are designed to reduce labor costs, the human factor is still a significant element of warehouse management. Goods will not scan and register by themselves, as warehouse workers have to do such tasks with portable scanners. The code for each marked item is sent to the computer for indexing and monitoring.Warehouse software for goods management also has another benefit: ensuring that the orders are correct. Since there can be no room for error when deliveries need to be made, the system helps workers in locating the correct item for shipping. The system significantly lowers human error in distribution of goods, equivalent to more profit. With warehouse software, the tomatoes a retail store orders will not end up as potatoes.It is possible for a huge facility to be managed by small but powerful warehouse management systems. When deliveries grow hectic, trust this innovative system to make every delivery fast and right at the same time. In the future, warehouses will still be the drop-off points for more goods. Fortunately, warehouse management software can still get the job done no matter how much it needs to work.